Can the ‘Doc’ save Harris Tweed?

Unlike Dr Who which continues to growth from strength to strength, the fate of Harris Tweed is still unclear. Harris Tweed, once a must for all men’s wardrobes has been declining in popularity over the last decade. Production of this captivating cloth peaked in 1970, when approximately 7million metres were produced; today this figure is probably closer to 500,000 metres of cloth.

Shortly after the Second World War, 8 out of 10 people in Harris wove tweed or were somehow involved in the industry. In the peak of its popularity in the 70’s there were some 2000 weavers, this number is now in the low hundreds.

Changing fashions and consumer trends in the 80’s, sadly contributed to the start of the downward spiral of what almost led to the extinction of the tweed industry in Harris. So unstable did the market become that production was ceased in March 2009.

Nevertheless, one year on and the revival of the once loved cloth seems to be upon us. Matt Smith the new DR Who actor, has been recently snapped wearing a 1960’s Mackenzie Harris Tweed jacket, and ever since the phones of the Harris Tweed Authorities office have  been ringing of the hooks.

The revival of this versatile, vibrant and vivacious material has been at the heart of the Aptus Suits country range since its development in 2008 (http://www.tailored-suits.co.uk/woodcock_country_range.html). Harris Tweed lasts for decades, and comes in many different weights and styles. It therefore, lends itself perfectly to everything from a tailored Harris Tweed shooting suit, to a bespoke tailored Harris Tweed overcoat, the options really are endless.

Aptus Suits is based in the heart of the Cotswolds near the village of Dean. It is a small tailoring company offering its clients a personal service usually associated with tailors charging 5 times as much. The company was set up and continues to be run by two friends and has a growing client list of men and women seeking high quality tailoring, made from world renowned cloths but at an affordable price both nationally and internationally.

A tailored Harris Tweed jacket by Aptus suits starts at £550, a full three piece tailored shooting suit is £850.00.

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Harris Tweed

One of the most desirable wool textiles in the world, Harris Tweed is produced in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, mainly in the one island with two names – Lewis and Harris – Whose centre is the town of Stornoway. Aptus Suits utilises the hardwearing nature of Harris Tweed, along with the protection it offers its wearers from the elements, by incorporating the endless colour combinations available into unique tailored shooting suits and bespoke tweed suits.

Raw Material

Harris Tweed begins life with pure virgin wools which are blended together to gain the advantages of their unique qualities and characteristics. Although the wool is grown principally on the mainland of Scotland, in the early summer the island and communities join together to round up and shear the local sheep to add their wool to the Scottish mainland clip.

Processing and Warping

The wool is taken to the factories of the main tweed producers where it is then washed and dyed. The coloured and white wools are weighed in predetermined proportions and then thoroughly mixed or blended, then carded. The resultant yarn has a twist imparted to it as it is spun to give its strength.

The spun yarn is then warped. This is a vitally important process where the basic pattern of the colours is prepared by winding the threads on to a frame of wooden pegs ensuring an even tension throughout. The warp is then gathered together in long hanks.

Weaving

The warp is delivered, together with yarn for the weft, to the homes of the weavers. All Harris Tweed is hand woven on a treadle loom by the weaver at his own home. Each loom is the weaver’s own property.

The tweed which is now approximately 78 metres long is collected from outside the croft gate and is returned to the manufacturers.

The tweed is returned in the ‘greasy’ state to the manufacturers, and it is here that it is finished – that is dirt, oil and other impurities are removed by washing.

The tweed will also pass through the skilled hands of the mending department where any loose ends and broken threads are rectified.

Stamping

After finishing, the Harris Tweed is then presented to the Harris Tweed Authority’s inspectors, and if all the necessary regulations have been complied with, it is stamped with the Certification Mark – or ORB MARK – as it is known throughout the world.

‘Harris Tweed’, must be made from 100 per cent pure virgin wool, dyed, spun and finished in the Outer Hebrides and hand woven by the islanders at their own homes, “in the islands of Lewis, Harris, Uista, Barra and their several purtenances”. (Harris Tweed Authority”)

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Aptus Suits recognize that the perfect fitting suit is just the start. We realise that for a suit to truly come to life, it needs to be tailored using a selection of some of the finest cloths available, woven from some of the most luxurious raw materials, sourced from every corner of the world.

At Aptus we are continually updating our material ranges, in order to offer the Aptus client, the best material for every occasion. As part of our new Cotswold Executives range we have recently teamed up with Ermenegildo Zegna the world famous Italian material producer.

Despite being the youngest of ten sons, it was Ermenegildo that truly put Zegna on the map.  The Zegna brand is closely linked to its family’s heritage. The company has remained within its family ownership for over one hundred years. Ermenegildo began working with his father in 1910, and quickly emerged as the natural leader to take the company forwards. However, it was not until 1930 that Ermenegildo developed a mill of his own, after completing his studies in a textiles institute.

Before setting up his own mill, Ermenegildo had spent a long period of time travelling extensively around Europe. It was during this time spent travelling that he became particularly inspired by the high quality of the British Textiles industry.

The driving force behind Ermenegildo Zegna was to develop a brand based on fabrics woven from the finest raw materials available using the most advanced technologies. His goal was to produce fabrics better than the British. Ironically to make this vision a dream he set about importing a selection of the best British spinning machines and before long felt confident enough in his weaving abilities to put his name on the fabrics.

Many years on, Zegna now produces over 2 million metres of fabric alone from its fabric mill in Biella. However, the two most important things Ermenegildo introduced to the brand still remain prevalent today, ‘the choice of only the finest materials and continuous technological innovation based on its customers needs’.

It is well known that Zegna is one of the biggest customers of top quality superfine merino wool and the best cashmere fibres derived from the Kasmir goat. It is also the biggest customer of the South African kid mohair, which is the finest mohair in the world.

Aptus Suits work alongside Zegna to provide our customers with a selection of materials appropriate for all seasons and all occasions.

Cool Effect Summer suiting material

Aptus Suits uses Zegna’s innovative new Cool Effect material, to provide the ultimate in summer suit comfort. This collection of materials is given an exclusive wash treatment, enabling the surface of the dark fabrics to replicate the properties of white fabrics, reflecting 80% of direct sunlight, where they would normally only reflect 20%, thus minimising the heat build up and cooling the effect of the summer sun. The ‘Cool Effect’ treatment does not affect the fabrics feel which remains light, soft and sumptuous offering the wearer not only an impeccable appearance but also maximum comfort in hot climates.

Trofeo 600

Trofeo 600 – For those simply seeking the best, Aptus Suits have sourced Zegna’s Trofeo 600 range of materials. ‘Trofeo’ is a legendary Ermenegildo Zegna suit fabric owing its name to the excellence of the raw materials used in making it. From this acclaimed fabric, Lanificio Ermenegildo Zegna has developed a refined version, ‘TROFEO 600’. The most precious of wools is woven with 15% naturally lustrous silk. The measure of the silk count is 600. The 600 silk yarn is the finest existing on the market, as it is five times finer than a high quality wool yarn.

The natural lustre of the silk highlights the fineness and appeal of wool, making the ‘TROFEO 600’ fabric an ideal fabric for summer suits. Naturally bright, light, with a subtle sheen and a smooth silky touch. Ideal for day or night, it is for men who love the look of silk, but also insist on the performance of wool.

http://www.tailored-suits.co.uk

A perfect suit for your perfect day

The wedding day, is often one the most important days in any adults life, if not the most important day. It is for this exact reason that everyone wants to look their best on the day. Often a lot of emphasis is placed on the brides dress, and quite right too, but this isn’t to say that the groom should settle for an ill fitting off the shelf suit.

Increasingly it is actually the bride that chooses the suit for her groom, a month or so before the wedding. Getting this suit to fit perfectly on the all important day often involves costly alterations and time. It is for these reasons that we believe Aptus Suits is seeing a large increase in the number of tailored wedding suits we do. Whether for the groom, best man, father of the bride or even the mothers of both parties, we are able to tailor bespoke wedding suits for all involved on the big day.  By taking over 25 measurements from our clients we can avoid the stress involved to trying to correct a poor fitting off the shelf suit. Not only this the whole experience tends to be a much more enjoyable one, with both the bride and groom often taking an active part in selecting materials from our range of Italian and English wools.

The level of service received is second to none, and the beauty with a tailored wedding suit is that you can have the specification exactly the way you want it. In the past we have tailored wedding suits to incorporate a lining to match the brides dress, a lapel flower button hole to be specially cut to hold a specific flower and this is of course before you even think about buttons, pockets and vents to name just a view of the options available. This shouldn’t be a stressful occasion, whilst relaxing in our fitting studio, with a nice glass of wine or a freshly brewed coffee, one of our fitters will offer you guidance on what materials, style and cut would work best for your tailored wedding suit. You can have as much or as little of an input as you would like.

We have also noticed that individuals are also opting away from tails, and instead are looking to get 3 piece suits made which they can wear for business during the working week. To me this makes a lot of sense, if you are going to get a great suit tailored why only wear it once?.  Clients seem to opt for a nice waistcoat to use on the special day, then can simply remove it to leave them with a 2 piece tailored business suit.

It is not only tailored wedding suits that we can help our clients with, we also tailor beautiful bespoke shirts and can offer advice on which of our handmade ties would best match the suit and shirt, as well as the brides dress off course.

Don’t leave looking good on your day to chance, leave it to the experts. A tailored wedding suit from Aptus ranges from £360 to about £500 dependant on spec, only little more than the cost of an off the shelf suit, but a lot more in terms of substance.

http://www.tailored-suits.co.uk/blenheim_evening_range.html

Aptus Suits ‘it’s a lifestyle choice’

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Having a perceived lack of time in your life to exercise is one of the most sure-fire ways to hinder your progress or stop it completely. You could ask any trainer what the most frequent excuse is for their clients missing a session and they would probably all say the same thing- “I just didn’t have the time” or “I was busy”. While I know that you are likely to have a whole host of things which you consider to be more important than going to the gym it is important to realise what needs to be done in order to get the results you want.

I often find that people who don’t have a specific training goal are the same people who fail to prioritise it highly enough to squeeze it in. If you are serious about improving your physique, performance or health it is vital that you know exactly what you want to get out of the time you put in. If you have the specificity of your goal exact your motivation will go up and you can trust me on this! I will give you an easy example to help prove my point. You and a friend want to lose fat. Your goal when asked is “weight loss” (hardly specific) and your friend’s goal when asked is “to lose 7kg of fat before my wedding in eight weeks time”. Now, which of the two do you think is more likely to be dedicated towards their goal? The take home message is having a specific goal, a deadline and a reason why you need to do it makes you a lot more likely to achieve it. It can be easy to predict who is going to still be in the gym in six months just by finding out why they are there. A lot of people don’t really know- they are more likely to be the ones who don’t last.

Think of the gym as a job. You know what you have to do, you understand the steps you have to go through to achieve it, you do it and you succeed. Jobs have deadlines, financial projections and specifics; not just “to make more money”.

I appreciate that you probably have a lot on your plate right now and a lot of things which you need to do before you can even think about getting in the gym. What I would recommend to you is to realise how effective exercise can be on your productivity and mental state. I know investors who believe keeping yourself healthy in body and mind are one of the most important things for your business. At the end of the day, if music moguls and celebrities can fit it into their schedule I am sure you can do the same; it just comes down to if you want to or not.

If you really feel like time is a constraint and you are not happy to spend the appropriate time exercising then it is even more important that you are exercising efficiently. You can burn fat and build muscle on short thirty minute sessions if you are exercising well.

So, do a little self-assessing first.

1)

Do you know exactly what you want from your training programme?

2)

Do you know exactly what you need to do to get you there?

3)

Are you prepared to do that?

4)

Are you prepared for any consequences of doing those things? Examples could be getting up earlier, taking your own food to work and buying new clothes once the old ones don’t fit.

www.bcpersonaltraining.co.uk

If you can answer yes to all of these things you are well on your way to achieving your goals, if not it is definitely worth dedicating a bit of time to yourself to think about what you want before attempting it with less than worthwhile effort.

With today’s hectic lifestyles often individuals look for quick fix solutions, buying an off the shelf suit is just one of these short cuts. We all come in different shapes and sizes, hence finding an off the shelf suit that fits can often be left to guess work.

Of course I am biased towards tailored suits, I own a tailoring company, but there is one very obvious reason for opting for a bespoke suit over an off the shelf suit, and that is how it makes the individual look. At Aptus Suits we take over 25 measurements and provide several fittings to ensure that Aptus clients leave feeling confident in their own appearance knowing that they have a suit that fits every part of their body.

Aptus suits tailors bespoke wedding suits, tailored shooting suits, cashmere overcoats, dinner suits and tailored business suits to name just a few; every suit has a purpose, a role, so why settle for anything which doesn’t fulfil its role to the best of its abilities.

There are a lot of myths, questions, and inaccuracies currently on the web surrounding tailored suits.  A question which pops up time and time again is:

Is it possible to buy a good tailored suit for less than £500?

Despite what you may think the answer is yes, Aptus Suits uses a tailor with over 40 years experience, we have collated a selection of some of the best materials available, for example our Harris Tweed we use in our tailored shooting suits.

So how is it possible?

Aptus suits have made cheap tailored suits a reality by cutting our running costs to the lowest possible levels. Unlike some of our more lavish competitors we don’t have London offices and showrooms; instead we have a modest office in the heart of the Cotswolds. As well as this, we have worked hard to streamline our ordering system via adopting the most up to date technologies. We also avoid paid for advertising and gimmicks, instead we rely solely on word of mouth and PR to spread our brand name. All of the above results in huge savings which we have decided to take off the price of our suits, therefore allowing us to deliver high quality tailoring at affordable prices.

Another question often asked is how long does it take to tailor a bespoke suit?

A consultation with one off our fitters generally takes about an hour. This gives enough time to look through materials, discuss the suit specifications and for us to take your measurements. It then takes about 3-4 weeks for the suit to be tailored ready for the second fitting. The point of the second and sometimes third fittings is to make any adjustments that need doing to get the best possible finished product. So from start to finish a tailored suit takes roughly 3-6 weeks to complete.

Should I buy a second pair of trousers with my suit?

It is very difficult for me to write this without it sounding like a sales pitch, but yes my advice is always buy a second pair of trousers with every suit jacket you buy. Suit trousers generally receive a lot more wear and tear, the constant motion of sitting, standing, walking, taking things in and out of the pockets means that the trousers often wear out a lot faster than the jacket. Therefore if you buy a second pair of trousers and alternate between the two pairs it is possible to double the life of the suit. It is important if you do opt for this method that when dry cleaning ones suits, you always get both pairs of trousers and the jacket dry cleaned together to avoid colour variations between the three items.

What materials should my suit be made out of?

If buying an off the shelf suit I would strongly suggest that you ask the shop assistant or check the label to see what you are buying. At Aptus Suits we use a mixture of 100% wools, wool and Cashmere blends, Tweeds, silks and cottons.  To avoid the disappointing sheen from your polyester suit, try to opt for suits which don’t include man made components.

Where can I get a good tailored womens suit?

Women often find it difficult to locate a high quality tailor that they feel comfortable with. Often tailors specialise in mens suits but tend to avoid ladies suits. There are several reasons for this:

Firstly due to the obvious differences between males and females, womens tailored suits will generally involve more measurements and thus are more time consuming.

Secondly, there are so many cut and specification options with womens suits that often it is difficult to choose the most suitable combination. If preferred Aptus suits can provide a lady fitter to conduct the consultation, we also advise that our clients bring with them an existing garment which they like or a picture of a suit style they have seen which interests them. We can then offer advice on the materials and suit specification which will best enhance their particular body shape.

For further information please visit http://www.tailored-suits.co.uk or email me at mail@aptussuits.com

Why choose a bespoke suit over…?

A number of individuals have asked me whether or not there is really a difference between a tailored suit and an expensive designer suit. I know individuals that have spent £300-£700 on a designer branded suit only to find out these suits are only semi-fitted i.e., the store may only take a sleeve length and a chest measurement. The result is that these suits lack the overall body fit that can only be obtained from a tailored suit, where the client has had over 20 measurements taken. I will often ask clients to bring their favourite suit along with them to a fitting so that we can photograph them in our studio. This allows us then to show possible stress marks, folds and creases in the suit where the garment does not fit perfectly. The problem is that suits from retail outlets are made in generic sizes. Unless you are lucky enough to have a standard body size all over to match the measurements used by the store then elements of the misfit will show in your garment.

A perfectly fitted suit however is not the only reason for making the choice to go bespoke. I don’t know how many of you ask the shopkeeper as to what material the suit is made from but it is definitely worth doing. More often than not I have found that retail stores use polyester or other manmade fibres to bulk out their suits. This is because polyester is much cheaper than wool, however it also makes the suit look a lot cheaper as well. The beauty of getting a tailored suit is that right from the start to the finish you can get a suit made exactly to your specific requirements. Whether this be selecting the material, choosing the lining, picking the number of vents or specifying the type of buttons you require. You should never feel restricted to what’s in front of you.

One of the biggest advantages of a tailored suit is in its ability to change the way you look and feel. A bespoke suit can be cut in such a way that it can emphasise areas of your body you may like, or draw attention away from areas that you would like less focus on. The improvement in your image can increase your confidence, self perception and the way you are perceived by others in the same way that a designer hair cut, a makeover or having a strong CV will do.

For all of the above reasons we therefore find that after a client has bought their first tailored suit then they will never shop for a semi-fitted suit again.

At Aptus Suits we don’t just offer one fitting, included in the price is several fittings and alterations if necessary in order to get the best possible garment.